Sun and Seasons OmniGlobe Lesson Plan by: Heather Hoffner Grade & Subject: Elementary ~ 2 nd Grade Science Lesson Time: 3 Sessions : 45 minutes each 2010 Colorado Model Content Standards SCIENCE Standard 3: Earth Science Systems~ 1. Weather and the changing seasons impact the environment and organisms such as humans, plants, and other animals. READING AND WRITING Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening- 1. Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others. 2. New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively. Standard 4: Research and Reasoning- 1. Reference materials help locate information and answer questions. 2. Questions are essential to analyze and evaluate the quality of thinking. Essential Questions~ 1. How do weather patterns change throughout the year? 2. What changes do we make in our daily lives based on changes throughout the year? 3. How does the temperature affect people, plants, and animals throughout the year? Content Objectives~ 1. Students will be able to name the four seasons and describe the way each seasons weather impacts our lives. 2. Students will gain a basic understanding of the suns influence on seasons and the earth s weather. Critical Thinking Strategies~ Inferring Questioning Synthesizing
Key Vocabulary~ - Sun - Seasons Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter - Rotation Lesson Delivery~ Setup: *Upload content specific images onto OmniGlobe DAY ONE Lesson: Students will first be engaged with a series of questions to get them thinking about the sun in this whole group lesson. (They can answer these questions in a whole group response or in a pair share style) -Where in the sky do you see the sun in the morning? -Where in the sky do you see the sun at lunchtime or noon? -Where in the sky do you see the sun when you are going home from school? - Is there a time when we can t see the sun in the sky? Now, the students will get to look at the sun on the OmniGlobe. Images : Sun 7JJ (What the sun looks like) Sun 7KK(The size of the Earth in comparison to the size of the sun) Returning the image of the Sun 7JJ, teacher will hold up a small globe of the world. Students will be asked to remember how small the earth was compared to the sun. They will then be introduced to the vocabulary rotation. After students understand what rotation is, the teacher will model how the earth rotates around the sun. After the students see this, they will then be asked again if they know how the sun can help create seasons based upon this rotation. From this point, the image of the earth s rotation around the sun will be brought up on the OnmiGlobe. After the students understand this rotation, the students will be asked to remember the answers to the questions that I asked them at the beginning of the lesson about what they notice about the sun. They will then learn how the sun influences day and night around the world.
To demonstrate this they will observe more images on the OmniGlobe. Diurnal Earth (What the earth looks like day/night) Now the students will be moved to more inquiry questions leading to seasons: -Why do you think the sun is important? What does it do? - When is the temperature the hottest/coldest? -What are seasons? Can anyone name all of them? -The sun helps to create the seasons does anyone know how? Next the students will be guided to look at one season. They will be start to look at how winter affects the globe. They will be asked what they think the United States looks like in the winter. After they make their inferences, they will look at the animation on the OmniGlobe called Seasonal Changes. After seeing this animation, the students will get to describe what they think they are observing. They will then try to point out when the animation is summer, and when the animation looks like winter. Finally, the students will have the opportunity to start describing how the sun really impacts seasons and then how the seasons impact people, DAY TWO Group Work: The students will be broken up into four groups. Each group will be assigned a season to focus on. Before they begin their work in groups, the students will understand that the purpose of this time is to become an expert on their season. As they are going to be the experts, they will then have the opportunity to teach the rest of the class all about their season. Each team will be given a text that specifically supports the season they are researching. They will read through their text, and answer the questions on the worksheet about their season. Please see attached worksheet titled Seasons. They will spend the first half of the science block on their group work, and the
teacher will float between the groups to offer support as needed. The teacher will also be able to assist any groups that would like to look at specific images on the OmniGlobe that will enhance their presentation to the class. Presentations: Now, each group will get the opportunity to present what they learned about their season. Each presentation will last approximately 5-7 minutes, and the teacher will be right there with each group to help the students articulate their presentation, and to clear up any misunderstandings they may have. The students listening to the presentations will get to ask questions and add any other ideas they have to the presentations. The schema that they gain from this opportunity will be demonstrated on day 3. DAY THREE Individual Application: The students will now get to work on completing a book about seasons to demonstrate their understanding of everything they have learned in this unit. This book will be the formal assessment of the project. Please see the attached book titled My Book of Seasons. The students will have access to each other and to text resources around the room to help them fill out their book if they are struggling with any answers. The teacher may have to model a correct response to the two questions on the last page (Why do seasons occur? What does the sun do?), or remind the students of the first day experience they had with the OmniGlobe. Extensions: Students can watch a supplemental video clip from Discovery Education about the seasons and the earth s rotation around the sun. Example Videos: Play and Discover with Digger and Splat: Seasons [17:30] PLANET EARTH: Pole to Pole [40:44] certain clips A First Look: Weather [17:00] Exploring Weather: The Atmosphere in Motion [21:01]
NAME: My Season: On the line write Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter Draw what your season looks like outside and then describe it below. How does this season change the environment around your house? What happens to the plants outside? What kinds of cloths do you have to wear during this time of year? What kinds of things can you do outside this time of year?
Why do seasons occur? My Book of SEASONS What does the sun do? My Name: Created by Heather Hoffner to accompany OmniGlobe lesson Sun and Seasons
SPRING This is what my house looks like in the Spring SUMMER This is what my house looks like in the Summer I wear these kinds of cloths in Spring: In the Spring I get to do these things outside: The plants in Spring look like The temperature outside feels I wear these kinds of cloths in Summer: In Summer I get to do these things outside: The plants in Summer look like The temperature outside feels
FALL This is what my house looks like in the Fall WINTER This is what my house looks like in the Winter I wear these kinds of cloths in Fall: In the Fall I get to do these things outside: The plants in Fall look like The temperature outside feels I wear these kinds of cloths in Winter: In the Winter I get to do these things outside: The plants in Winter look like The temperature outside feels